Daily Marauder

MEDIABISTRO: CHRIS ANDERSON ON MACRO VS. MICRO SOCIAL NETWORKS

First came macro social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, LinkedIn, Hi5, etc. The next progression, according to Chris Anderson (Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine), is micro social networks. Today at MediaBistro Circus in NYC, Anderson discussed the difference and why the latter will prevail.

Bigger is Better

Yah, I thought this was the winning strategy too until I bought the laptop with the 17” screen and have since developed a neck crick. The same applies for social networks. Sure MySpace and Facebook garner millions of users. But here’s what they don’t have: ad dollars. CPM on Facebook can run as low as $.20. Cents here people. CENTS!! The reason? Well, it’s pretty difficult to match an ad with content that could be about an incessant range of topics.

Introducing the Micro

Above is a site created by Chris Anderson devoted to the topic of aerial robotics, something that Anderson is quite passionate about. As you can imagine, the audience interested in amateur UAV’s is quite smaller in relation to the MySpace/Facebook crowd. Smaller audience: yes. Smaller CPM: no. Because this audience is so niche, the advertising that is placed alongside the content can be similarly targeted allowing for a better match. Less match.com and more chemistry.com. Anderson claimed that he receives CPM’s up to $7 in comparison to the cents that the major networks are pulling in. Anderson developed this social network utilizing Ning’s social networking platform. Ning is a company which offers individuals and companies alike integrated social media solutions. Anderson claimed that Ning has over 250K micro social networks. That’s a whole LOT of niche. . .

The Message

The higher the effectiveness (CPM), the lower the volume of traffic.

One Last Thought

And this one is a thought that I don’t have an answer to. How does a user find the niche that they’re looking for? Sorting through the long tail of content on the web is a mind-numbing chore, even for a web geek like myself. Search on google. Sure. But there’s got to be another way to connect users to the content that they’re interested in. In my case, I lead such an extraverted life that people send me content that they think I will be interested in. Case in point:

Who knew there was a site out there devoted to jumping in art museums? Yah, I surely didn’t. . .that is, until my dear friend Martha Rivera, knowing my love of taking jumping pictures, sent the site to me. My point? What about all of the content that exists out there that you never thought to search for? What is the search and discovery process for something like this?

I don’t have the answer but I’d love to be part of the conversation. I’ll go start a micro-social network. OK. That’s a lie. I have a few, one on Ning in fact. I just haven’t devoted any time to maintaining them. . .